By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
The months and weeks of waiting have dwindled away to mere days, and the Baylor football team is set for its season and home opener this weekend. After a “good” month of fall camp, according to head coach Dave Aranda, the Bears now welcome their first test with the Texas State University Bobcats.
Texas State is a familiar foe to Baylor fans, but these Bobcats are going to look much different than before. Their football program is now under the direction of G.J. Kinne, who led the nation’s No. 1 offense at the University of Incarnate Word in 2022. Kinne, the second-youngest head coach at the FBS level (34-years-old), brought several of his Cardinal athletes with him and will be looking to carry over the success he found in the FCS.
“[I have] a lot of respect for our opponent,” Aranda said. “[I] have played against their head coach, and [I have] a lot of respect for him and just his journey and who he is and the type of team that he is going to bring in here to McLane [Stadium]. We know it’s going to be a tough and competitive one. We’re just way looking forward to it.”
Saturday marks the 10th meeting between Baylor and Texas State, a series that dates back to 1909. The Bears are undefeated in all nine previous contests, including the eight played in Waco. Baylor beat Texas State 42-7 in week three last year, and also brought home a 29-20 victory in 2021 in San Marcos.
Seventh-year senior safety Bryson Jackson said the team is just “itching to get an opponent” after weeks of playing against each other in fall camp.
“But more importantly, we’re a team that just wants to improve on a day-to-day basis, and I feel like during camp we had a lot of areas we had to improve on and get better at, and we did,” Jackson said. “So, being able to have this week to be a true test to how we do things around here is awesome.”
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Josh Cameron mimicked Jackson’s excitement and said he can hardly believe game day is almost here.
“It’s just super exciting,” Cameron said. “It’s really hard to put into words, kind of like this feeling. I’ve been feeling it in my heart, it’s like ‘ooh, game week. Football is back.’ There’s no greater feeling, honestly.”
With Kinne taking over as head coach of the Bobcats, the Bears can’t use game film from the last two years as part of their preparation. Aranda said his staff and athletes have resorted to watching what Kinne ran at UIW. Even though Baylor’s focus is to prevent Texas State from executing what it wants to, Cameron said the message this week has been more internal.
“With Coach Aranda, he’s basically been telling us [it’s] ‘us versus us,’” Cameron said. “Focus on being the best version of us and then the rest will take care of itself.”